Where the deadly outbreak has been recorded so far. Source: Healthmap.org.Source:Supplied

The WHO divides these into two camps: Those with “widespread and intense transmission” including Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone and those with “localised transmission” including Nigeria, Senegal, Spain, and the United States of America.

This weekend the US recorded it’s first case of human-to-human transmission after a nurse who cared for Thomas Eric Duncan, who has since died of Ebola, tested positive for the disease.

A “breach of protocol” has been blamed for her getting sick, with health officials now investigating how this could happen in the US where state of the art medical equipment and protective gear are available.

Police are now guarding her home and meanwhile, another 50 people who are also believed to have had contact with Duncan are being monitored.

Police guard the home of a health worker in Dallas who contracted Ebola from patient Thomas Eric Duncan. Pic: AP Photo/LM Otero.Source:AP

A neighbour from the nurse’s apartment block is shocked to see a huge media contingent outside her home. Pic: AP/LM Otero.Source:AP

A barrel labelled biohazard on the lawn of the property. Pic: AP/Brandon Wade.Source:AP

COULD IT COULD HAPPEN HERE?

So far, no cases have been confirmed in Australia, although that doesn’t mean it couldn’t happen here.

The following map shows the geographic distribution of different strains of Ebola outbreaks. The dotted line shows countries home to the Pteropodidae family of fruit bats who are the natural hosts of the disease.

Countries within the dotted line are home to fruit bats thought to be the natural hosts of the disease. Pic: WHO.Source:Supplied

Countries in dark blue have reported outbreaks of the Ebola Reston virus in monkeys and pigs, while those shown in orange have had disease outbreaks in humans.